Front-axle coupling.



PATENTED. APR. =5,*-1904. F. A. THOMAS & L. F. THOMPSON. FRONT AXLECOUPLING 1 Tii 0m 811w 19 w M I EVER! co PNOTOL'ITHO, WASHMUYON. 01 c Ad I 2 5 APPLICATION FILED OUT. 11, 1902.

N0 MODEL.

UNiTnn STATES Patented April 5, 1904.

PATENT OFFICE.

FRANK A. THOMAS AND LEVI F. THOMPSON, OF ROCKFORD, MINNESOTA.

' FRONT-AXLE COUPLING.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 756,430, dated April 5,1904.

Application filed October 11, 1902.

To all whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, FRANK A. THOMAS and LEVI F. THOMPSON, citizens ofthe United States, residing at Rockford, in the county of Wright andState of Minnesota, have invented certain new and useful Improvements inFront-Axle Couplings; and we do hereby declare the following to be afull, clear, and exact description of the invention, such as will enableothers skilled in the art to which it appertains to make and use thesame.

Our invention has for its object to provide an improved device forpivotally connecting the front axle of a "ehicle to the body-support andto the reach whereby the axle is free for oscillations in a verticalplane as well as for such oscillations as are required in turning orrunning the vehicle on a curve.

This device takes the place of what is know as the fifth-wheel of thevehicle,and hence we style the same a flexible fifthwheel coupling forvehicles.

The invention consists of the novel devices and combinations of deviceshereinafter described, and defined in the claim.

The invention is illustrated in the accompanying drawings, wherein likecharacters indicate like parts throughout the several views.

Figure 1 is a front elevation with some parts broken away,showing theimproved device applied to connect the front axle, the body-support, andthe reach of the vehicle. Fig. 2 is a plan view of the parts shown inFig. 1. Fig. 3 is a vertical section on the line is" of Fig. 2. Fig.lisa plan view of the upper center bearing, and Fig. 5 is a transversesection on the line m of Fig. 4.

The numeral 1 indicates the front axle, the numeral 2 the body-support,and the numeral 3 the reach, of the vehicle.

Thelower center bearing 4, which is of channel-like form and is providedat its sides with depending screw-threaded gudgeons 5, embraces thecentral portion of the axle 1 and is tightly clamped thereto by nuts 6on said gudgeons and a clamping-bar 7, through which the said gudgeonsare passed. On its top the bearing 1 is formed with a ball or sphericalhead 8, which forms one member of the ball- Serial N0- 126,85'7. (Nomodel.)

and-socketjoint. The upperhcenter bearing is formed in two sections 9and 10, which members are each formed with one-half of a divided socket11 and which socket receives the ball 8. .The two sections 9 and 10 areprovided with perforated cars 12, through which short nutted bolts 13are passed torigidly clamp the said sections together. Said sections 9and 10 are rigidly secured to the central portion of the body-support,which, as illustrated, is a spring 2, as follows: The forward end of thereach 3 is provided with diverging metal prongs 14, the ends of whichare flattened and perforated and rest on top of the spring 2. Thebearing-section 9 is provided with a vertical flange 15, which bearsagainst the forward face of the spring 2, and this flange is providedwith a pair of threaded gudgeons 16, which pass through perforations inthe forward ends of said prongs 1 1 and are provided with nuts 17. Apair of nutted bolts 18 are also passed throughthe said prongs 14: andthrough perforated ears 19 of the bearingsectionlO. Thus thebearing-sections 9 and 10 are clamped together and rigidly secured bothto the spring 2 and to the 'prongs 1 of the reach 3, and the said springand the axle 1 by the ball-and-socket joint are pivotally connected forfree movements both in a horizontal plane transversely of the carriageor longitudinally of the said axle and bolster.

The reach 3, preferably at the junction of its prongs 14, is providedwith a bearing 20, in which is I swiveled the trunnion 21 of acrank-like supplemental reach-section 22, the forward end of which ispivotally connected to the axle 1. Preferably the pivotal connectionbetween the axle 1 and the forward end of the crank or supplementalsection 22 is formed by passing the rear gudgeon 5 of the center bearing4 through the flattened forward end of said section 22 as best shown inFig. 3. The swiveled crank or supplemental reach-section 22 holds theaxle 1 against rotation or oscillatory movements from front to rear ofthe vehicle or, in other words, longifree for such oscillating movementsas it must necessarily make in adapting itself to the irregularities ofthe road. It therefore follows that with this construction oscillatorymovements of the axis in a vertical planewill not throw torsionalstrains on the body of the vehicle or on any portion of the running-gearor other parts of the vehicle. With the ordinary fifth-wheel now ingeneral use oscillating movements of the front axle in a vertical planecramp the bearing parts thereof and tend to produce torsional strains onthe bolster detachable from the carriage-body, and

in other cases it might be a rigidly-secured part of the body.

What we claim, and desire to secure by Letters Patent of the UnitedStates, is as follows:

The combination with a front axle and cooperating body-support and areach of a vehicle, of the center bearing provided with the sphericalball 8 and rigidly secured to said axle, the two-part bearing 9 10having the divided socket 11 and rigidly secured to said body-supportand to the forward end of said reach, said socket 11 receiving said ball8, and the supplemental crank 22 swiveled to said reach and pivoted tothe lower portion of said axle, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof we aflix our signatures in presence of twowitnesses.

' FRANK A. THOMAS.

LEVI F. THOMPSON. Witnesses:

ADELBERT L. OMERA, D. D. AMES.

